11. The Falcon Goes Down (in Flames!)

"-ad!" Tony heard FRIDAY through the ringing in his ears. He opened his eyes but couldn't focus them on anything. "Dad!" The ringing abruptly stopped and Tony could hear Kristoff's disoriented groan and feel the ship vibrating underneath him. His skin prickled uncomfortably. There was a metallic taste on his tongue - blood. Those were four senses accounted for…

what was left? Tony sniffed the air. He couldn't smell anything. The questionable blur before his face sharpened to Suffee's face, pinched in pain. His eyes were closed and he wasn't moving.

"Friday," Tony acknowledged his girl's shouts, moving shaking fingers to Suffee's neck. His heart stopped - he couldn't find a pulse. "Friday, what-"

"A ship entering the atmosphere exploded. It nearly crashed into us," FRIDAY said. Huh, not a comet-meteor thing like he thought, then. Tony's skin crawled again as he felt FRIDAY's heaviest and most invasive scanners at work. "I detected multiple hairline fractures on all three of you. Suffee has a concussion. You might have had one, but it is gone. There is nothing else of note."

A concussion. It wasn't good, but at least it wasn't death. Tony felt foolish for trying to find the carotid artery. Of course it wouldn't be in the exact same place he was used to finding it - Suffee wasn't human. Tony slid his hands under Suffee, flexing once to make sure he could bear his weight before actually picking up the Rodian. Were Rodians usually this light, or was this Extremis making him stronger?

Wait…

What was he forgetting?

"Oi, Stark!" Kristoff called as he circled the Millennium Falcon in place in the Coruscant atmosphere. "We have a… thing."

Tony strapped Suffee into one of the back seats, tugging firmly to make sure he was secure. "A 'thing?'" Tony asked dubiously as he hurried to the pilot's seat, latching onto it as he stumbled. "We have many 'things.' Jewelry, luxury cloth, some very delicious berries that may or may not be poisonous..."

"A situation," Kristoff corrected himself, "of the life-threatening variety." He turned to look at Tony. "Not to us," he quickly specified upon seeing Tony's face.

"Boss, a ship exploded," FRIDAY explained again. "The ship is heading towards the city. Estimated deaths are in the mid-hundreds to lower thousands range if there is a full impact."

Oh. That was what he was forgetting.

"I think I can duck this ship under it, slow it down some," Kristoff offered grimly. He urged the 'Falcon into a slow dive, keeping the acceleration constant to reduce the stress on the passengers. "There'll be lots of damage to the 'Falcon, and I'm not sure the cockpit will make it, but we might be able to slow it down some, save a few extra lives with this stunt. I'll steer. You get everyone to the cargo hold. I'll angle it away from the impact."

Tony gave Kristoff an admiring glance at the man's self-sacrifice - the man had gone a long way from the self-serving asshole he appeared to be when they first met - but shook his head. He flipped open a hidden panel. "Bet now's a good time to show you what the orbs do," Tony mused, pressing a button hidden under it. "Friday."

Some panels under the hull of the Millennium Falcon slid open, spilling out hundreds of the egg-shaped orbs that Tony hid inside the walls of the ship several weeks ago. Kristoff blinked.

"And what are those supposed to do?" he asked warily. Tony had to give him credit - even though he was clearly shaken and confused, the ex-smuggler held the 'Falcon at a steep dive, coming in close to the freefalling ship.

"Watch," Tony suggested with a grin, hiding his true anxiousness. In all honesty, his devices weren't meant to be used the way he was about to use them for. He actually made them as steering aids, in case one of the ship's thrusters were taken out or to navigate particularly nasty asteroid fields. Unfortunately, the yacht that exploded was much bigger than the 'Falcon.

He had no idea if there were enough of them or if it would work. The eggs split open like claws, blasting upwards towards the free falling yacht. They latched onto the underside, digging into the metal. The repulsors fired full-blast. Slowly, the falling ship decelerated.

"It's not enough!" Kristoff exclaimed in alarm, leaning forward as parts of the other ship's plates began buckling under the repulsors.

"Seat belt," Friday warned Tony disapprovingly. Tony automatically obeyed at the tone of her voice, glancing over to see that Kristoff already had his on. Traitor.

"Open a transmission to the ship! Can you increase the power in any way, Friday?" Tony asked.

"Deploying suit," FRIDAY said grimly, sending the pieces of the Iron Man and Iron Maiden armors that had their own repulsors. The pieces seemed ridiculously small as they flew through the air to the smoking ship and Tony wondered if it would actually work.

"Everyone to the cargo hold," Tony instructed over the PA system. "Drop everything and run. Alert FRIDAY if you are stuck and need assistance. This is a code red."

"Strap yourself in. Brace for impact," Kristoff agreed with the orders, turning off the PA.

"Connected to the ship," FRIDAY informed him as the screen lit up with the image of a pale-faced pilot who glanced wildly at Tony and Kristoff. He was surprisingly young, with blonde hair and blue eyes. According to the transmission, the ship was called the Tantive II.

"We slowed down your descent," Tony told him. "It might be enough to let your crew survive with some broken bones. Tell your people to brace themselves." The man didn't move.

"Friday? Can he understand me?"

"Translating to High Galat-"

"I-I understand," the pilot interrupted, tight-faced. Though his words were softly and politely spoken, the sweat on his face and his wide eyes belied his false calm.

As he did, though, the ship suddenly increased in velocity. "What happened?" Kristoff demanded as the pilot missed the button he was aiming for, instead blasting some love song out of his speakers.

"Friday?" Tony asked again. He saw dozens of orbs leaving the ship and accelerating towards the ground.

"I have calculated the speed of Tantive II. It is sufficiently decelerated. The next order would be to clear the landing site." Right. Clearing out a landing space. Tony looked down. With Extremis, he could somehow make out a few of the repulsors slamming into civilians in the middle a wide bridge in the trajectory of the falling ship. The people were unceremoniously tossed out to either ends of the bridge with force. That was going to leave a bruise. More than a bruise, actually. Tony wouldn't be surprised to find people trying to sue him for broken bones, after this.

"Eighty-eight percent chance of Momray Bridge collapsing onto Descri Bridge and sixty-two percent chance of Descri Bridge collapsing onto Neithan Bridge. Should I divert the repulsors back to Tantive II to lessen the impact or move the civilians on Descri and Neithan?" FRIDAY asked.

Tony noted the cameras - everyone was in the cargo bay. "Move the people on Descri," Tony ordered, nodding to Kristoff. The repulsors dove to the bridge directly under Momray, once again shunting people to a safe distance.

"I hope everyone's in the bay," Kristoff said grimly. He glanced over at Tony as the 'Falcon spiralled down, below the Tantive II. "You should go to the bay."

Tony met his gaze squarely. "I'm staying." Kristoff's eyes widened, then he gave a sharp nod and turned his eyes back to the front.

Gritting his teeth, Kristoff swung the 'Falcon under the yacht and rammed it up, making an imprint of the 'Falcon on the bottom of Tantive II. It only deepened as the 'Falcon's thrusters tried, unsuccessfully, to stop the descent. The thrusters were at full blast but only barely slowed the fall.

Calculating the quickly-approaching bridge, Tony instructed Kristoff, "Get out from under it on my count."

"Sir?" Kristoff asked, glancing at the battered yacht that filled his vision, self-preservation and obedience warring with self-sacrifice and a sense of duty.

"We did all we could. If we stay, then we'll get crushed too, our weight adding to the stress on the bridge and-" Tony cut himself off, knowing that the Avengers were never interested in the technicalities. Kristoff glanced over at the abrupt end, giving him a nod. His muscles were tensed in preparation. "Now," Tony ordered.

Kristoff's hands flew to different levers and buttons. He coaxed the 'Falcon through a sloppy barrel roll out from under the doomed Tantive II.

Tony flinched as the yacht fell past the Millennium Falcon, crashing into the top bridge. Cracks formed all along it and, as FRIDAY predicted, the bridge gave out and fell in pieces to the one underneath it. Thankfully, Descri stood firm, the people on the bridge under it safe and sound.

-You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favorTony walked around the rubble, avoiding the emergency forces as he followed FRIDAY's instructions and nudged a large, durasteel beam. A repulsor lay on the ground. Once freed, it gave a weak hum and rose up, hovering unsteadily in the air before deactivating. Tony caught it in one hand and handed it to Senn. The Aleena grabbed it and scurried off.

"How many more of these do you have left to retrieve?" Suffee griped with a groan, clutching his back.

"Almost a hundred," Tony answered before freezing and turning back. "Wait, shouldn't you be in the Med bay?"

"There's people who need it more than I do. I'll be fine," Suffee brushed off.

Tony couldn't refute that without being a hypocrite, so he nodded. Most of the repulsors had still been connected to the underside of the yacht when it crashed, doing their duty to save as many lives at they could. They were now buried under the ship and pieces of the bridge. If he wanted to keep his tech in his hands, Tony needed all of the help he could get. He kicked a piece of steel away, revealing about a dozen of the repulsor-orbs all huddled together. They looked to be more or less undamaged. "How many of these do you think you can carry?"

In response, FRIDAY huffed and made them all fly towards the ship in a small, metal swarm. As they passed overhead, several of the rescue workers and gossiping civilians pointed at them and shouted. Suffee shook his head, turning away. "Those things aren't alive. Just make some more tomorrow or something." He paused, hand automatically falling on his earpiece, the crew's strongest connection to FRIDAY. "They aren't alive, are they?"

"No, but I'm not letting my tech fall into someone else's hands," Tony said to Suffee's back.

"What are we going to do?" Suffee asked. "The 'Falcon is barely functional. Kristoff doesn't think we can survive a trip through the hyperlanes."

"Honestly? With the damages to the front mandibles and hull, we'd be lucky to make it out of the atmosphere."

"Making it out of the atmosphere isn't the problem. It's keeping the oxygen that we would have to worry about," FRIDAY concurred.

"If it was just me, I'd patch up the 'Falcon, make it to the next system, then buy some supplies to finish the job, but I'm not risking it with you guys on board. We'll probably have to buy a new ship. I'll just melt down all of the vibranium and sell it. It should get us a fair price," Tony thought aloud, absentmindedly using the earthen term for that element.

It was a credit to how much time he had spent with Tony that Suffee didn't even need to ask what vibranium was. The Rodian still frowned, though. "If you need help paying for it, I have a few thousand credits saved up and I'm willing to set aside my pay for the next couple months. I'm sure the rest of the crew would, too."

"Don't worry, this isn't on you guys. This won't affect your pay. I promise. I'll pay for everything," Tony rushed to assure his second. It was a pattern that he was used to - someone from his team would offer to buy something, then the rest of them would look at him expectationally. Since he was the richest, he would need to pay for it. It was only fair.

He received a raised eyebrow for his troubles. "Unless you exploded the ship yourself for amusement, I hardly see how this is 'on' you," Suffee said. "Besides, I know that you personally have less than Shoragg saved up."

"And it's my fault. I know, I know! I'll sell all my stuff and fix it," Tony hastened to tell Suffee, fearing that the crew would leave if he couldn't make things better. He knew that money couldn't buy everything and that he wasn't the easiest person to work under, but he was working on it.

"There! He's there!" a hoarse voice said. Thinking that it was just a family reuniting, Tony didn't pay attention until someone grabbed his wrist and yanked.

"Hey!" Tony protested, wrenching his hand away. He spun around to see fair hair and watery, blue eyes. "Oh, you," he said, recognizing the pilot he saw on the transmission. His face was bashed up, the nose purple and bleeding. "Did you see someone for your face? I'm pretty sure it isn't supposed to look like that."

"That's the man," the pilot babbled to the somewhat-important looking man next to him and the younger, slightly less-important one behind him. Honestly, They probably would look a lot more important if they weren't so dusty and their clothes weren't torn. "That's the man who saved us."

There was a click of cameras and Tony peered at the reporters behind the three, only now noticing them.

-You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favorAfter a quick round of photos with the three, Tony managed to hustle them all into the cargo hold of the 'Falcon, away from nosy eyes. "Thank you for saving us," the obvious leader of

the three said. "I am Prestor Organa, Viceroy of Alderaan. This is my son, Bail Organa." He waved a hand to the tanned man next to him.

"Wow, hear that, kids? We saved a Viceroy!" Tony told his crew, grinning. Gis grunted, Hoviv eyed the non-kingly man with suspicion, and FRIDAY remained silent. Tony looked over at the other kids, but none of them had anything to say. "Well, this is my ward, Gis."

"Gis'tik Kal Tos," Gis corrected lowly.

"And Friday's watching from here!" Tony gestured at the FRIDAY-orb. "She helped with a lot of the technical stuff, like the repulsors and contacting your ship." He assumed that 'Friday' would be an okay name. The days of a week were different here, so people wouldn't automatically ask 'Like the day?' whenever he introduced FRIDAY.

"Hello, sirs. It's a pleasure to meet you," FRIDAY greeted. "I fully approve of your handling of the refugees."

"Interesting. Is this a camera of some sort?" Bail asked curiously, leaning forward to look into the lens. FRIDAY directed it back. "It's so small, yet seems fully mobile! Oh! I- Thank you! I tried my best with it. It was a sticky situation."

"Pretty much a camera," Hoviv said belatedly with a shrug. The Rodian and the Alderaanian looked at each other for a second, but the man in his early twenties apparently didn't see the teenaged Rodian as a viable conversation partner.

"So are we going to meet her?" Bail asked with a bright smile towards the orb. "I would very much like to see you in person, Miss Friday," he said with a light blush.

Tony blinked, rewinding his words to see where he implied that FRIDAY was a human. "I'm fine with this," FRIDAY said crossly, switching to a slightly younger-sounding speech pattern.

"The orb is basically me, anyways."

Bail frowned, obviously confused, before following FRIDAY's lead and doing away with all the formality. "How old are you? And it doesn't matter how you look, you know. In Alderaan, we practice peace and tolerance to all beings."

"I am three years old," FRIDAY said gleefully.

Laughing lightly, Bail shook his head. "You don't have to be shy. Come on, how old are you, really?" Bail coaxed. "I'm twenty-three."

Tony turned his back on the disturbing conversation. "Anyways," he said loudly, directing the older Organa to another one of his crew members, "This is Kristoff. He's the amazing pilot of my ship. He did just as much as I did, probably even more."

"Don't listen to him. He did ten times as much as I did," Kristoff told Prestor, slapping a hand over Tony's mouth when the shorter man opened it to refute his statement. At the Viceroy's chuckle, Kristoff raised his other hand to give Prestor a firm shake. "Pleased to meet you, sir! I admire your work with the Delaya trade agreements." Tony knew as a fact that Kristoff stayed far from the Core Worlds and paid no attention to anything as little as trade agreements.

"You know of the agreements?" Prestor asked, sounding pleased.

"Of course!" Kristoff exclaimed. "Facilitating trade between the only two inhabitable planets of the Alderaan system is a huge factor in the lowered tax re..." Kristoff and Prestor traded facts about the implications of linking the two sister planets. When Tony raised an eyebrow at Kristoff, the ex-smuggler gave a minute shrug of his right shoulder, coupled with a quick flick of his head to the right, an emerging habit on the ship to indicate that it was FRIDAY whispering in their ears, feeding them information and suggestions.

Tony stepped backwards, not wanting to get caught in meaningless schmoozing. Kristoff had that all handled. The rest of the crew, not interested in mingling with the upper echelon of society, had already melted away. He accidently caught the eye of the pilot as he stepped out of the 'Falcon. The boy was younger than he had looked through the transmission. He was just a kid, really. The kid looked at his superiors, then snuck to follow Tony. "Hi," the kid finally said.

"Hi," Tony said after a moment.

There was an awkward silence before the kid blurted out, "Thanks for saving me. I really didn't want to die."

"Who are you?" Tony asked.

"Colton, my name's Colton," the kid said quickly. "It's my… well, it was my first interplanetary flight. It would be horrible if I killed the Viceroy! I'm really, really glad you were there. I don't know what I'd do if you weren't there. No, wait, that's wrong. I'd be dead. So I guess I know what I'd be doing if you weren't there? I mean. Thanks," the kid looked bashfully down.

Eyeing the kid, Tony said, "Yeah, don't mention it. About my ship..."

"Oh! Yes! Viceroy Prestor said your ship'd destroyed-"

"Yeah, it is." Tony agreed. "So, do you know any medics?"

"-so he's buying you a new one!"

"Wait, what?" If Tony had been drinking something, he would've done a spit take right then and there. Usually, it was him doing the outlandish favors for someone else's act of good faith. Tony didn't know how to feel about this. He didn't like being helpless and he hated being in someone's debt.

"Well, it's our fault so we have to fix it!" Well, that was one way of putting it. Tony was no stranger to atoning for his mistakes.

Was it bad that the kid reminded him of P We use cookies. Byeter? T using oonur sy look ervicesed at the earnest ey , you acknowledge thes. "Right…. How old did y at you have read and accept oou sa ur Coy yokou were again?"

-You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favorJust four hours left before the meeting.

Tony was in front of another camera, completely ignoring the Republic's equivalent of emails sent by Bunkurd Corp. They were all but demanding his silence and telling him that he needed to confer with them first, before making any statements. Tough luck, seeing that Tony hadn't signed anything yet. He couldn't help it if Bunkurd's transmission were swallowed up in a verifiable barrage of transmissions from several other companies.

"Haven't thought of a name for them yet," Tony admitted to the interviewer. She was a pretty Corusanti reporter, new and nowhere near the likes of the sharks back home.

"And are they for sale?" the interviewer asked.

"Oh, yes. For government use only, of course," Tony said.

"Please explain," she asked.

"The government rents them from me and I'll station them at every major shipyard of their choosing. I'll maintain them and control their flight patterns in case of emergencies. The government will be the ones who actually activates them."

The reporter peered at the screen behind the camera for her next question. Tony finished reading it before she even opened her mouth to ask the question aloud, quickly forming his answer. "So are you deliberately withholding life-saving devices from the public?"

"I would hardly call it 'withholding,'" Tony brushed off. "It took several thousand repulsors to slow down - slow down, not carry - a small yacht, and each one costs thousands of credits to produce. Who in their right minds would even try to buy them? Renting them is a better option for the government. Plus, I'd be the one maintaining and updating them. It can save lives, which is why the governments will get reduced prices." Okay, he might have been exaggerating the numbers, but the point was still there.

"And there you have it," the reporter finished, voice steady even as her cheeks reddened. "Anthony Stark, owner of Stark Industries!"

-You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favorFRIDAY's cameras whirred silently as they turned to track Suffee's path down the hall. The Rodian had undergone a drastic change in habits, including sleeplessness and loss of appetite,

along with a worrying weariness. As Suffee stopped again to wipe the sweat off her forehead, FRIDAY decided to butt in. "Are you alright, sir?"

Suffee looked at the closest camera and FRIDAY automatically blinked the green light on the side of it once before remembering that Suffee wasn't Tony, Pepper, or Rhodes and simply wouldn't understand. "Natural part of the Rodian life cycle, I'm afraid," Suffee said with a frown.

"Would you like a scan for confirmation?" FRIDAY pressed. The scanners on the inside of the ship were only strong enough to detect presences. Though they could also detect shielded intruders, they simply weren't medical scanners.

Suffee did not answer, hugging his shoulders in a rare display of vulnerability.

FRIDAY's suspicions grew exponentially. "Throughout the last six months, you have displayed such traits several times, though rarely with such extremes. I am unable to find such data in public archives. Unless it is a cultural secret, I must insist you undertake an exam," FRIDAY urged.

"It depends," Suffee said quietly. "Can you keep a secret?"

"The data will not be shared," FRIDAY promised. If it was what she suspected, it wouldn't stay a secret for much longer, anyway.

-You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favorIt didn't need to be said that Tony missed his meeting with Bunkurd Corp. Officially, he was in a meeting with some senator or the other. Unofficially...

"Shit, how many are there?!" Tony hissed in horror to Gis. The two of them were decked in Earth-style sunglasses and caps that Tony made, indiscreetly crouching near the edge of a ramp. Passersby glanced at them in confusion as they walked past. Neither Tony nor Gis took notice. They were busy watching Jedi file into and out of the building - the Jedi Temple, home of the Jedi Order. It was a lot more than the two dozen Jedi he was expecting. There had to be hundreds in this building alone.

"That many," Gis agreed, picking at his hat.

"Archives suggest there are ten thousand Jedi," FRIDAY informed him. "You know, you didn't have to walk all the way here. I could've told you that if you just asked." The bottom-right corner of his sunglasses, a pouting icon popped up.

Tony was glad he was practically sitting as he suddenly became woozy. "Ten thousand? Right here?" He imagined ten thousand Steve Rogers, rampaging across the planets to save their very own Buckys, leaving behind a trail of broken bridges that held a strange resemblance to Momray bridges.

"Uh. No," FRIDAY said snootily, perfectly imitating one of the supermodels Tony 'met' nearly a whole decade ago. "They're spread out across the galaxy."

Was that better or worse? Tony thought of ten thousand Wandas spread out thoughout the universe and ready to pop up without a moment's notice, twisting minds and influencing the thought process of people they didn't particularly like, causing Ultrons to be born. He shuddered. Worse. Definitely worse.

"Boss? Dad? Daddy-O?"

"I'm fine, Fri," Tony said automatically. He turned as he caught a slight shift in the shade of Gis's sunglasses. Was Friday messaging Gis?

Gis glared as he caught Tony looking, scratching his hat harder. His talon caught against the canvas-like cloth, tearing it. Gis scowled, snatched it off his head, and began tearing the cloth covering to pieces, revealing the slim twin blasters Tony had incorporated into the hat.

Seeing his invention about to be outed right there in the middle of the street, probably a crime in this well-off area of Coruscant, Tony immediately reacted. "Hey, no!" Tony protested, making a grab for it. Gis dodged his lunge and began fleeing. Tony gave chase, the Jedi momentarily forgotten.

-You want my property? You can't have it. But I did you a big favor-

#RememberTantiveII #StandTallDescri

Tony Stark? As in TonyStark, maker of StarkWeb?

-TwoMoonsOneWorld

TS

#RememberTantiveII #StandTallDescri #WhoWereThey

One way to find out. RodianPower is part TonyStark's crew.

RodianPower Hey were you on this ship?

[image1 jpg.]

-JJOP

TS

#RememberTantiveII #StandTallDescri

JJOP Yep. Got better pics. See my page for more.

[image932 jpg.]

-RodianPower

TS

#HeyImnewhereDidIdothe#thingrightSomeonehelpmePlease

Hey, I'm new here! Did I do the # thing right? Someone help me. Please?

-User:Colton/Password:477034341

TS

#ThatColtonDude

Did anyone see that Colton dude's post? ...Is that his actual password?

-LdernWithNoA

TS

#ThatColtonDude

LdernWithNoA Someone should tell him we all know his password now.

-HelpMeSoar

TS

#ThatColtonDude #TonyStarkMeme

I'm on it. Don't worry. Tony's going to be upset tho. He wanted to be the first meme. Someone make Tony Stark a good meme and I'll ensure you meet him.

-HisGirlFRIDAY